The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has said the governors are the only people against the tax reforms bills and not the Northern region.
OsunDailyNG recalls that Tinubu on October 3, 2024, forwarded a tax reform bill to the Senate and House of Representatives for approval.
Part of the bill provides reforms in the sector, including changing the name of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, to the Nigeria Revenue Service, NRS.
Amidst the controversy surrounding the tax reform bills, the joint meeting of the Northern Governors Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers Council also rejected the bill.
In an interview on Channels Television on Monday, Bwala countered the notion that the northern region is against the bills.
According to Bwala, governors from states where their income will reduce if the derivation is applied are responsible for the objection to the bill.
He said, “The tax reform bills have come to stay, and they will be passed. Let us forget that it is the North vs. the South; it is the governors who are going to be impacted.
“It is the governors from states where their income will reduce if the derivation is applied. These set of governors are in the majority of the states and not limited to the North.
“Maybe the governors from the north have decided to be vocal about it.
“But in the midst of this cacophony of positions between the governors and the federal government remember, even the case of Local Government autonomy it wasn’t a case of region it was still the governors because local government autonomy from the beginning was considered an initiative that would weaken their powers…”
